I was noticing many colorful things as I walked around St Germain on a very nice day giving me hope that the mellow temperatures of Spring won’t be too long in arriving.

Yellow lemons, clay colored crabs.

Lots of tulips for sale. I actually have some in a vase on our dining room table reflecting brightly in a mirror.

Happy chair and rug in a shop window.

I seldom buy any notebooks anymore since I seem to be recording most things in my IPhone but I was tempted by these.

After suffering through that Siberian cold front I thought I would never willing get outside again. I was getting a bit of cabin fever, doing the same thing every day but unwilling to get outside except for trips to the grocery store. Finally, the weather has changed. I went outside to walk around the St Germain area and it was just beautiful with a blue sky, sunshine and the temperature (I looked it up when I got back home) 55 degrees. It was a pleasure to be outside.

Paris restaurants and cafes almost always have really colorful chairs like these two. They are water proof too.

I liked these two as well.

Look at these dresses in a shop window-notice that they are sleeveless. Spring will be here before we know it.

Isn’t this a lovely square? It’s often used for movies made in France needing something from the last century.

Well, I have continued on with the Dr. Dukan Diet. It hasn’t been hard as you can eat protein whenever you wish so hunger doesn’t become a problem and adding vegetables has really helped give some variety to my meals. I was looking through a metro newspaper that someone had left on the train and when I came to my horoscope it said, “Vous mangez mal” and then something about getting help. Our doctor would agree as she told me the diet was dangerous. What keeps me going is the fact that I am slowly but steadily losing weight, I feel good and especially the fact that Dr. Dukan says that if I follow the diet to the end I will keep the weight off. That’s what I really want. If I won’t gain the weight back I will keep on doing what I have to do.
To my surprise, Maurice announced that he wanted to do the diet too. Those of you who have met Maurice will be surprised that he needs to lose any weight as he looks trim and healthy but he has gained some weight that he doesn’t like and he can’t get it off. Our doctor told him he could anything he wanted as long as he just ate a little of everything but this obviously isn’t working for him. Cheese and bread does not contribute to weight loss as far as I can see. So the first day of the diet he sits down to eat lunch and it’s just a steak and he gives this huge sigh like he has to eat the worst thing in the world.

Maurice: “Can’t I have bread?”
Me: “No”.
Maurice:”How about some rice or potatoes?”
Me: “Nope, no vegetables for five days”.
Maurice: “Not even a salad?”
Me: “That would be considered a vegetable”.
Maurice”This diet just isn’t healthy. You should have variety”.
Me: “You can have variety when you add vegetables in five days.”
Maurice: “I can’t believe we have to eat this way the rest of our lives”
Me: “As I said, it’s temporary. At the end we can eat normally except for one day a week”.
Maurice: “It’s genetic for me to eat bread and cheese. I’m really suffering here”.
Me: “Sigh”
Then he goes to the grocery store and brings home Ile Flotant because he read it’s on the diet but he didn’t read that it had to be zero percent fat. He’s so hungry for something sweet that he eats it anyway. He sneaks some cheese now and then but hasn’t had bread. I keep telling him to just quit if it’s so hard but he’s hanging in there and is slowly losing weight. He doubts that he can get down where he wants and I look at where I’m supposed to arrive at the end of this and feel a little helpless and not very hopeful but then I weigh myself and I’ve lost a little more so I continue on.

Eggs in the window of a creperie. WE can’t have crepes but we can have eggs.

Some of the things we can’t eat-just can look at them.

No happy hours either except for water or a diet Coke.

Nope.

Finger snacking? I guess this means hors d’ouvres you can eat without forks and knives. It just sort of struck me funny.

I really wanted to go to Venice to see the costumes at the carnival there but didn’t plan far enough ahead but I did read about a parade here in Paris and thought I would take a look. It didn’t turn out to be very special and once it started, there was no crowd control so people were as close and they could get to the parade participants and all you could see were moving heads. I didn’t stay to see it after a while but got a few photos here and there while waiting. I understand it was pretty good as it went along, just not at the start. Something to remember for next time.

The poster for the carnival which I didn’t like actually.

The zebra contingent.

I think had this been Brazil, there wouldn’t have been white, long sleeved t-shirts under the costumes. It was chilly though.

Home made tree goddess?

Two little cuties.

The crocodile contingent.

The parade started here in front of the Marie at Gambetta. The mayor of the arrondissement even gave a little speech.

The other day I was looking for a natural food store, called Naturala, to buy oat bran, something needed for this diet of mine. The first listing in my arrondissement turned out to be closed. And this was after I had walked quite a way. The second listing (in pages jaunes on the internet) wasn’t too much further away and, luckily, there was a nice new big store where is should be. In the process of getting there I wandered about new territory. Although it may have been in the 12th arrondissement, I had never been there as I seem to have stayed mostly in my own neighborhood. Anyway, I saw some interesting things.

Several streets had painted their poles in colorful hues. These poles are used to prevent parking on sidewalks and, believe me, if they aren’t present you will find cars all over the place.

Another street with poles painted in leopard prints and eyeballs.

These colorful tables and chairs caught my eye.

Many restaurants and bistros have the outdoor areas not only protected with plastic but also warmed inside with heaters. It is where the smokers sit, all nice and cozy.

When I got back to my neighborhood I saw a really dark sky and thought heavy rain was on its way but it turned out to be black smoke from a fire in the suburbs.

A few more shots taken at the Grand Palais:

Some of the Belle Epoque architecture there in the Grand Palais. This type of architecture was done up until WWI.

From a balcony you can see an enormous map of France that was on the floor.

I liked seeing people looking and trying to locate various places on it.

We walked around the map and found the village in Provence where we once lived and then this, Chatelaillon, where our next place will someday be-September probably.

There was an enormous copy of a painting of the longest artificial harbor in the world with a huge relief map of Cherbourg also on display. The French had to defend the Atlantic coast, especially the part across from England. They had agreed to help America with its fight for independence and were afraid the English would retaliate. It was eventually finished in Napoleon’s time.

Outside is a statue of Clemenseau who was a leader in France during WWI. Maurice said he was rather like Churchill in England though at a different time.